Second Franciscan Consistory

It has been announced that a second Franciscan consistory for the creation of new cardinals will be held on Friday/Saturday, February 14/15. If Pope Francis follows the same sort of time scale he employed last time — announced December 11 that a consistory was to be held; January 12, list of new cardinals released (16 electors, 3 honoured but over the age limit); February 22, consistory held — then it seems likely that the list of new cardinals will be published at the traditional Angelus held on the Feast of the Epiphany, Tuesday, January 6, 2015.

Since it is anybody’s guess as to who will be on the list, the sensible thing would seem to be to address first of all the question of what do we actually know?

Today, December 20, His Eminence Julius Riyadi Cardinal Darmaatmadja SJ, Metropolitan Archbishop Emeritus of Jakarta, Indonesia, celebrates his 80th birthday and so loses his status as a cardinal elector. Therefore, currently there are 111 cardinal electors, 9 short of the maximum 120 prescribed by the laws of the Church. Between now and the consistory another cardinal will celebrate his 80th birthday and so cease to be a member of the College of Cardinal Electors. This is Giovanni Cardinal Lajolo (January 3), President Emeritus of the Governatorate of Vatican City State. So, barring the intervention of the Grim Reaper, as the consistory opens there will be 10 red zucchetti available for distribution.

However, it may well be that Pope Francis may allow himself a little leeway, as did Pope Benedict latterly. But also, again as with his illustrious predecessor, it is unlikely that he will play fast and loose with the limit (as St Pope John Paul II was wont to do). As the day of his first consistory dawned, there were 14 vacancies in the College of Cardinal Electors. Pope Francis in fact created 16 new cardinals that day.Those two additional cardinal electors are most easily explained by noting that in the month following that first Franciscan consistory two cardinals attained their 80th birthdays. These were Jean-Baptiste Cardinal Pham Minh Mân, Archbishop Emeritus of Hô Chí Minh City, Vietnam (March 5), and Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi, Archbishop Emeritus of Milan, Italy,  (March 14).

There is no reason to suppose that Pope Francis will do anything wildly different this time. Thus it is highly likely that he will take cognisance of the fact that His Beatitude Antonios Cardinal Naguib, Patriarch Emeritus of Alexandria of the Copts, Egypt, will be 80 less than a month after the consistory, on March 7. In addition, Justin Francis Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop Emeritus of Philadelphia is 80 on April 19. Taking these two into account would allow him to create 12 new cardinals. Crucially, from my way of thinking, in the latter case, that of Cardinal Rigali, this would allow the elevation of his successor, Archbishop Charles Joseph Chaput OFM Cap (70). Not only would this be most apposite as Archbishop Chaput will host next year’s World Meeting of the Families (September 22-27), it would also create an important and symbolic historical fact: the good Archbishop would become the first ever Native American cardinal — from any part of the continent!

On January 13, 2012, in the run-up to the fourth Benedictine consistory, I noted that the Pope Emeritus had allowed himself a little leeway by taking into account the fact that “five cardinals were due to celebrate their 80th birthdays during the five calendar months following the consistory” (and by so doing neatly allowed himself to exclude the then Archbishop Vincent Nichols without appearing too brutal about it!). However, I suggested a better, more straightforward rule: “The maximum number of 120 cardinal electors can be temporarily exceeded by the Pope taking into account those cardinals who will attain their 80th birthday in the six calendar months following the month in which a consistory is held.”

However, on this occasion this would not make much difference as it would only bring into play the two prelates already adverted to above, Cardinals Naguib and Rigali. If he stretched the point and gave himself one month more then he would have another two zucchetti to go round. Velasio Cardinal De Paolis, President Emeritus of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, is 80 on September 19 and Santos Cardinal Abril y Castelló, Archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, follows suit two days later, on September 21.

   

Putting this all together, we can expect a minimum of 10 new cardinal electors but there may well be 14. This is roughly in line with last time. The upper limit of 120 is exceeded, but it is not flaunted.

We can pass over any venerably aged priests or prelates whom Pope Francis may wish to honour. It is impossible to predict that.

But who will be on the list of new cardinal electors?

As I said, anybody’s guess. The exclusions from the last consistory of Patriarch Francesco Moraglia (61) of Venice and Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia (70) of Turin were, I suppose, understandable. We have a new Pope who, albeit ethnic Italian himself, was elected to shake up the Curia and the old guard and order. But why refuse to elevate these two widely respected prelates ostensibly in an effort to de-Italianise the Sacred College and then elevate another Italian? This was Gualtiero Cardinal Bassetti, Archbishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve? (Where? I here you ask. This is where Pope Leo XIII was bishop.)

This was an unnecessary but studied insult, not to the prelates, but to the Italian Sees concerned. And especially in the case of the Patriarchate of Venice, it was a slap in the face to an arguably unequalled, apart from Rome itself, part of the Catholic heritage of both Italy and the world. I trust, but with little confidence, that this mistake will be corrected.

Many don’t expect that any cardinals in curia will be created. However, there are two curialists who SHOULD be. Many, including yer man here, thought that the exclusion from the first Franciscan consistory for the creation of new cardinals of the Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, the French Dominican Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès, was a disgrace. Sadly, it was not unexpected.

His Excellency had incurred pre-Papal displeasure when, as the then Secretary to the Congregation for Education, he had heeded complaints from other Argentinian prelates over the then Cardinal Bergoglio’s proposal that Fr Víctor Manuel Fernández, his protégé and friend, be appointed Rector of the Catholic University of Buenos Aires. It may be recalled that the Cardinal got his way, belatedly, and that no sooner was he elected Pope than Fr Fernández became Archbishop Fernández. For Archbishop Bruguès, the writing was on the wall.

Going back to 1700, there were 20 Archivists before Mgr Bruguès. It was not until Fr Alfons Maria Stickler SDB was appointed pro-Archivist and pro-Vatican Librarian (there is also a Prefect of the Libraries, which is a different thing) on September 8, 1983, that a non-cardinal was appointed to the post. He was named an archbishop upon appointment and created cardinal at the first opportunity, on May 25, 1985. Interestingly, Cardinal Stickler retired on May 27, 1985 and a month later his friend and fellow Salesian Bishop Antonio María Javierre Ortas, Secretary of the Congregation for Education, was created cardinal, on June 28. Three days later, on July 1, he was named Archivist and Librarian.

On April 9, 1992, a distinguished Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Luigi Poggi, upon his retiral as Apostolic Nuncio to Italy was named pro- Archivist and Librarian. He, too, was created cardinal at the first opportunity, on November 26, 1994. The same happened with his successor, Jorge María Cardinal Mejía (appointed March 7, 1998, created cardinal February 21, 2001). And with Raffaele Cardinal Farina, yet another Salesian (June 25, 2007, and made Archbishop; November 24, 2007).

Then there is Archbishop Dominique François Joseph Mamberti (62), recently appointed Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. It had been known for some time that Pope Francis intended to replace Mgr Mamberti as Secretary for Relations with States (2006-14), in effect the Holy See’s Foreign Minister, as his (new) Cardinal Secretary of State, His Eminence Pietro Parolin, wanted his own man. As in effect the Holy See’s Foreign Minister, Mgr Mamberti was an exception to the rule being one of only three non-Italians ever to have held that post. [The others were: Jean-Louis Pierre Cardinal Tauran, also a Frenchman, now President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the newly appointed Camerlengo (as of Saturday, December 20), and; the Pole Wlodzimierz Czacki at the end of the nineteenth century.]

One would trust that Pope Francis would not now make Archbishop Mamberti an exception to two other long-standing rules: (1) on demitting office the Secretary for Relations with States is honoured with the Sacred Roman Purple, and; (2) the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura is a cardinal.

In this latter case, the earliest Prefect I am aware of is Maffeo Cardinal Barberini appointed on January 8, 1610. He was elected as Pope Urban VIII on August 6, 1623. Since that time, there have been 31 Prefects of the Apostolic Signatura (that we can be sure of) and it was not until April 7, 1967 (ten days your esteemed but humble scrivener here celebrated his fifteenth birthday) that a non-cardinal was appointed to the post. This was Archbishop Dino Staffa, then Secretary to the Congregation for Education.  He was created cardinal at the next consistory, on June 26 of that year.

Since then there have been, until now, five appointees who were also not cardinals but who were elevated at the next consistory. These were Archbishops: Aurelio Cardinal Sabattani (Secretary of the Signatura, May 17, 1982; February 2, 1983); Zenon Grocholewski (Secretary of the Signatura, October 5, 1998; appointed Prefect of Education November 15, 1999; February 21, 2001); Mario Francesco Pompedda (Dean of the Scared Roman Rota, November 16, 1999; February 21, 2001); Agostino Vallini (Bishop of Albano, May 27, 2004; March 24, 2006) Raymond Leo Burke (Archbishop of Saint Louis, Missouri, June 27, 2008; November 20, 2010).

As for any other suggestions? If I were to be entirely honest, I’ll just as likely win the Lotto as get them right.

PS:

(1) Curia heads of department who might under normal circumstances reasonably hope for elevation:

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia (69, Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for the Family (appointed June 26, 2012)

Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski (65), President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers (April 18, 2009)

Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella (63, Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization (June 30, 2010)

NB: It is entirely possible that all three of these dicasteries will be merged into one Congregation.

NOTE: Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli (73, Italian) is President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (June 27, 2007) but this is not nowadays considered a red hat office. Cardinal Foley was promoted OUT of it.

(2) Curia cardinals at or about or over the age limit:

Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski (was 75 on October 11), Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education (for Institutes of Study)

Angelo Cardinal Amato, S.D.B. (was 76 on June 8), Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints

Francesco Cardinal Coccopalmerio (was 76 on March 6), President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts

Antonio Maria Cardinal Vegliò (was 76 on February 3), President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

NB: It is entirely possible that the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts will be merged into a Congregation for Justice, along with the Apostolic Penitentiary and the Sacred Roman Rota.

(3) Other problems related to the Curia and Sacred College:

Angelo Cardinal Sodano is now 87 and remains Dean of the College of Cardinals.

Roger Marie Élie Cardinal Etchegaray is now 92 and remains Vice-Dean (Sub-Dean) of the College of Cardinals

Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Cardinal Bertone SDB is 80 but remains Camerlengo. (This note was drafted earlier, so see above.)